NY: 20 die in horrific limo involved car accident at rural country store

[philip964]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ntsb-probes- ... 25082.html

Not a lot of details. NTSB is investigating.

Tourists looking at fall color. Not sure if a lot of pedestrians are involved.

RIP

Wedding party. 18 dead in limo 2 pedestrians dead.

[ELB]

Yikes, that is awful.

[chasfm11]

What a terrible situation. Prayers for the family.

But there is a lesson from the governor. According to him.

1. The vehicle had been inspected the month before and had failed. It should not have been on the road
2. The driver did not have the proper class of license to operate the vehicle.

So much for government's ability to protect people from tragedy. It remains to be seen about the actual cause of crash. It may be completely unrelated to the regulations.

[G.A. Heath]

We need a law to ban these high capacity assault auto(matic)-mobiles. No one needs a car capable of killing 20 people at a time.

[surprise_i'm_armed]

2 of the known failures on its vehicle inspection were faulty ABS devices and faulty windshield wipers.
The driver didn't have the proper license to drive limousines.
The company has had multiple of its vehicles taken off the road for problems.

The owner of the limo company appears to be a former FBI informant from a foreign country.
The authorities believe that the owner is in Pakistan currently.
The driver's name has not been released.
I could speculate that this may be an intentional terrorist act, but have no solid evidence of such.

Prior to the crash, one of the women on board texted a friend that the vehicle's engine was so loud that everyone was going deaf.

Although this T-intersection has had multiple accidents over the years, it doesn't appear that heavy duty guard rails were in place,
since the out of control limo ran the stop sign and apparently crashed directly into the country store's parking lot.

What is rather amazing is that I saw the limo being recovered and 2/3 of the body (the rear 2/3) seemed to be in good shape.

The LEO's have recovered the airbag module, which they said is the "black box", and that may provide information.
But since an airbag device was one of the reasons it failed inspection, who knows if it will contain revelant data.

SIA

[ELB]

...
Although this T-intersection has had multiple accidents over the years, it doesn't appear that heavy duty guard rails were in place,
since the out of control limo ran the stop sign and apparently crashed directly into the country store's parking lot.

What is rather amazing is that I saw the limo being recovered and 2/3 of the body (the rear 2/3) seemed to be in good shape.

From the photos and aerial pictures of the scene, the country store and it's parking lot are not directly across the intersection from the highway that deadends into the cross of the "T". For whatever reason the driver swerved to the left, not enough to make 90 degree turn, but enough to make it inot the parking lot off to the left, hit the other vehicle, and go down in to a ravine.

I also saw the limo seemed to be relatively intact. My speculation is high speed, sudden stop, and most if not all of the 18 people in the limo did not have seatbelts on.

[Jusme]

Airbags would have made no difference for anyone but the driver and a front seat passenger. Everyone in the back, would have been unsecured, by seatbelts or any other restraints. Sudden deceleration, would have thrown them against each other, and the hard interior of the vehicle.
I don't know yet what happened, and there are precious few people who can even give first person accounts. The NTSB, has a great reputation, for reconstructing accidents, even involving aircraft accidents. All of the comments from the Governor, leaked inspection records, etc.. only give voice to speculation. I will wait for the completed report, before rendering an opinion.

[surprise_i'm_armed]

ELB:
Thank you for additional information. I had not seen the aerial photos of the crash scene.

It seems crazy to those of us who wear our seat belts 100% of the time, but when people are in a limo, or a large RV, they somehow get in the groove of being unsecured, as if they are in their living room.

Given that about 2/3 of that 2001 Ford Excursion limo was in good shape, it seems that no one had a seat belt on, IMHO.

SIA

[philip964]

Reports said it hit an imbankment.

That would mean a very sudden deacceleration.

The earth does not give when hit.

[philip964]

https://www.click2houston.com/news/nati ... /709738419

Owners son arrested.

[Paladin]

https://www.click2houston.com/news/nati ... /709738419

Owners son arrested.

Link is giving me an error?

[surprise_i'm_armed]

https://abc7news.com/new-york-limo-cras ... y/4455040/

Yes, the link provided gave a 404 error. The one in this reply has a lot of information and works OK.

SIA

[dlh]

I hope the experts involved can determine the cause(es) of the crash. Looks to me like either driver error and or a brake failure. Since the driver died in the crash--no help there. Wonder if the country store had security video that may have recorded some or all of the crash?
I expect, given the liability involved, that this limousine company will be quickly going out of business. I also suspect inadequate insurance coverage to pay for such a huge loss of life in one car accident. Money will never adequately compensate the terrible losses the relatives of these victims will suffer.

[TreyHouston]

I hope the experts involved can determine the cause(es) of the crash. Looks to me like either driver error and or a brake failure. Since the driver died in the crash--no help there. Wonder if the country store had security video that may have recorded some or all of the crash?
I expect, given the liability involved, that this limousine company will be quickly going out of business. I also suspect inadequate insurance coverage to pay for such a huge loss of life in one car accident. Money will never adequately compensate the terrible losses the relatives of these victims will suffer.

That’s the first thing I thought of, if they didn’t maintain their vehicle inspections and maintenance, they did not probably maintain their insurance payments. Very sad, the families will have to probably pay for it all out of pocket.

[philip964]

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texa ... 298655.php

Difference wearing a seatbelt makes.